Friday, September 3, 2010

Cranberry Sprint Tri 2010

Pre-race
Despite yawning the entire ride down, I arrived in Lakeville ready to go (after a potty stop, hehe)! Check-in was easy, got some Hammer goods (which I've been using on long bike rides, score!) and setup my bike while my dad took a nap rested his eyes. Found Kerstin, some other BPC friends, and after a pre-race meeting it was go time.

Swim
A few days of rain cooled the temperature of Loon Pond down to 76 (from 82 a week before!). There were bright green and orange buoys marking the rectangular, counter-clockwise swim... that looked awfully far! I was in the second wave (with all women under 29), so I didn't have to wait long before we got in the water for the start. While it wasn't that deep, I made sure to sit down and get my head wet, so it was less of a shock when we starting swimming. Before I knew it, we were off and it wasn't too long before I was able to settle into my breathing. There wasn't too much bumping, the most notable thing being the blinding sun on the way back in! I couldn't quite see the last buoy or shore, but I just kept swimming and did my best to sight. I had no idea at the time, but at 16:35 I was pretty much on par with my last swim. A bit of a slippery exit and run back to transition that wasn't all that bad.

Bike
Knowing that the two-loop course that was relatively flat, my goal was to keep a good pace the entire ride. I got going pretty well and started passing a bunch of women (presumably in my age group). Coming around for the second loop was a little hairy, as we merged with people just entering the course. By this time it was also more crowded so I was glad there wasn't much traffic on this open course. I don't really remember much from the second loop, just tried to stay strong! I was an idiot and didn't turn on my bike computer until a little ways into the bike, but I was happy to see an average of 19.3mph afterwards!

Run
Given the fact that I had run 3miles all of twice in the last month or two, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I was a little shocked to see so few bikes when I got back from transition (I think just the elites), so I tried to be quick putting on my socks (got a blister the time i tried to run w/o them) and sneakers before grabbing my race belt as I left for the run. While my legs didn't quite feel awesome, I was just glad that my foot didn't hurt!

The first woman to pass me was probably somewhere around 1mile or so. I couldn't tell which age group she was in, but she was looking good and I knew I had to run my own race and let her go. Water on the head at the aid station, and then a hill. A hill? Alright, well, only one way to go! Crap, another hill? This one didn't feel good. Another woman passed me at some point after mile 2. This time I knew I had to keep her in my sights, and I was able to stay right behind her. As we turned the corner and headed back into the park I started to kick and passed her, hoping that the finish line wasn't too far away. Luckily it wasn't!!

Six seconds ;)

We congratulated each other on a great race, I grabbed lots of water, some orange sections, and Oikos (yay for race sponsors)! I found out later that she was in my age group and I finished 6 seconds ahead of her ;) Better yet, I was second in my age group (out of 36)!! Overall time 1hr 20:29 (77th overall). Given everything that's gone down this summer, I didn't know if I could pull it off. To top it all off, I got to watch my recruit finish her first triathlon and spend some time with my dad. Oh what a day :)